The 11th Session of the Climate and Cryosphere Project's Scientific Steering Group was hosted by Marika Holland and SSG Member Alexandra Jahn at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in beautiful Boulder, Colorado, USA. The meeting dates were 9 - 12 February 2015.

Lunch Note: People have to pay in cash. There is an ATM at the entrance to the cafeteria if people forget cash. No credit cards or debit cards accepted. The menu is here and changes weekly: http://www2.ucar.edu/for-staff/daily/menu Average price is between $6 to $12, depending on what you order.

Note: People have to pay in cash. There is an ATM at the entrance to the cafeteria if people forget cash. No credit cards or debit cards accepted. The menu is here and changes weekly: http://www2.ucar.edu/for-staff/daily/menu Average price is between $6 to $12, depending on what you order.

Despite a long and rich history of observational analysis and numerical model experiments, the relative importance of processes controlling Arctic climate change is still subject to debate. In this talk, I will use both observations and model experiments to identify processes and feedbacks affecting Arctic climate change. First, I will present what I have learned by analyzing observed Arctic sea ice loss. Next, I will use coupled climate model experiments to identify the influence of atmospheric and oceanic processes on the Arctic climate response to idealized greenhouse gas forcing. My findings underscore that cloud feedbacks can be more important than northward heat transport for explaining the equilibrium and transient Arctic surface climate response and response differences in coupled climate models.

The Greenland ice sheet is loosing mass at an accelerating rate at present and will contribute significantly to sea level rise in the future.

Knowledge on the long-term response of the Greenland ice sheet to climate warming during past interglacials is essential for estimating the potential of future rise in sea level. During the last million years, the Greenland Ice Sheet (GRIS) has waxed and waned in response to glacial and interglacial periods. The deep ice cores through the Greenland ice sheet contain ice from the time ice covered the site. Ice from the last interglacial period (the Eemian, LIG) 130 to 115 kyears before present is present in most of the deep ice cores and can be used to determine both temperature and extent of the ice sheet during this warm interglacial period.

Going to the bed, basal material enclosed in the ice cores contain DNA remnants that can be used to determine the ecosystems present before ice covered Greenland.

The reaction of the Greenland ice sheet to climate changes in the future and the sea level change from mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet is discussed.

The sea level projections made by the glaciological community as part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) process have often been out of phase with the projections considered by the wider Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) community. For instance in AR5, the ice2sea and SeaRISE (Sea-level Response to Ice Sheet Evolution) ice sheet projects predominantly worked with AR4 scenarios, while the CMIP5 community used new future scenarios. As the next phase of CMIP is being designed (CMIP6), an effort for ice sheet models to be better integrated in the CMIP6 initiative has been proposed to the CMIP panel.

We present the framework for the new effort, ISMIP6, the Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project for CMIP6. The primary goal of ISMIP6 is to improve projections of sea level rise via improved projections of the evolution of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets under a changing climate, along with a quantification of associated uncertainties (including uncertainty in both climate forcing and ice-sheet response). This goal requires an evaluation of AOGCM climate over and surrounding the ice sheets; analysis of simulated ice-sheet response from standalone models forced “offline” with CMIP AOGCM outputs and, where possible, with coupled ice sheet-AOGCM models; and experiments with standalone ice sheet models targeted at exploring the uncertainty associated with ice sheets physics, dynamics and numerical implementation. A secondary goal is to investigate the role of feedbacks between ice sheets and climate in order to gain insight into the impact of increased mass loss from the ice sheets on regional and global sea level, and of the implied ocean freshening on the coupled ocean-atmosphere circulation. These goals map into both Cryosphere and Sea-Level Rise Grand Challenges relevant to Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) and the World Climate Research Program (WCRP).

Historically, permafrost has not been explicitly represented in land models in Earth System Models. But, over the last several years, several modeling centers have begun to focus on improving the representation of permafrost thermal, hydrologic, and carbon cycle dynamics to enable the models to be used in investigations of the permafrost carbon feedback. The CMIP5 models show an extremely broad range of skill in representing permafrost due to deficiencies in the simulated Arctic climate as well as the treatment of snow, cold region hydrology, and freeze/thaw processes. Improvements that have been incorporated into the Community Land Model, which is the land model of the Community Earth System model will be presented as well as plans for future model development and assessment.

Note: People have to pay in cash. There is an ATM at the entrance to the cafeteria if people forget cash. No credit cards or debit cards accepted. The menu is here and changes weekly: http://www2.ucar.edu/for-staff/daily/menu Average price is between $6 to $12, depending on what you order.

Note: People have to pay in cash. There is an ATM at the entrance to the cafeteria if people forget cash. No credit cards or debit cards accepted. The menu is here and changes weekly: http://www2.ucar.edu/for-staff/daily/menu Average price is between $6 to $12, depending on what you order.

Closed Session - CliC SSG and Staff Only

13:30 - 15:00

Budget Discussion and Decisions

15:00 - 15:30

New membership

15:30 - 16:00

Break

16:00 - 17:00

Meeting Wrap-up

Online Meeting Participation Information

For online participation for the CliC 11th Scientific Steering Group Meeting, we used the GoToMeeting Platform (www.gotomeeting.com).

If you have not used this system before, we suggest logging on ~15 minutes before the start of the first day - a small plugin will need to be downloaded from the web and installed on your computer the first time you use it (after that you should not need to reinstall the plug in). You have the ability to test your audio to make sure we can hear you, etc. There is a chat box that you can use to ask questions, chat to other online participants, etc. You will be able to hear the presenter and see the slides - and we are hoping to have video of the presenter as well (that part will depend on the bandwidth of participants, etc). If you prefer to connect using a telephone, please contact Jenny Baeseman prior to the meeting.

If you would like to ask a question or provide a comment during the meeting, please us the chat box to alert the online moderator that you would like to speak so we can get that attention of the presenter. We will then give you the floor to ask your question to the room. Please be sure to mute your line (by clicking the microphone icon) when you are not speaking to reduce background noise.

If you are a presenter, we will give you the ability to share your computer screen. This means that you can give the presentation from your own computer and use whatever platform you normally do (ie PC, Mac, Keynote, PowerPoint, etc*).

If you have participated in an online meeting before, you know that there can sometimes be technical glitches and challenges to overcome. We will do our best to make sure everything goes smoothly, but if at anytime during the meeting you have suggestions on how we can improve sound quality, etc, please send Jenny Baeseman a text: +47 4821 8095 or email.

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Local Information / Logistics

Getting to Boulder and the NCAR Mesa Lab (meeting site)

SkyRide's air conditioned buses have plush, adjustable seating and ample luggage storage; drivers take your bags at curbside and return them to you at your destination. This service of the Regional Transportation District (RTD) runs hourly between roughly 6:00 a.m. and midnight; travel time to Boulder is approximately 55-75 minutes, depending on time of day and weather.

To get to Boulder:

Purchase tickets at the RTD counter in the main terminal (northwest corner of fountain area), or pay exact fare (currently $13) on the bus.

Take the RTD skyRide AB bus (schedule - see West Bound section for service from terminal to Boulder)

To go directly to the meeting at NCAR Mesa Lab, get off at the Table Mesa Park n' Ride stop in Boulder and phone one of the Boulder taxi companies in advance to have them meet you at the Table Mesa Park n' Ride stop on arrival in Boulder to take you to the NCAR Mesa Lab.

There is no bus up to the NCAR Mesa lab where the SSG meeting will be held. We have organized a daily shuttle from the Best Western Plus Boulder Inn hotel, which will take participants to and from the hotel to the NCAR Mesa Lab in the morning and evening according to the meeting schedule. If you need to get to the NCAR Mesa lab at other times or miss the shuttle, a taxi or a 45 min uphill hike from the closest bus stop on Table Mesa Drive is the only way to the NCAR Mesa Lab.

Morning departure times from the Best Western: 8:15 am and 8:30 am

Evening departures times:Monday: Pick up time from NCAR 6:15pm – Drop off at the Med at 6:30Tuesday: Pick up times from NCAR 5:05pm – Drop off at Under the Sun and 5:15pm – Drop off at the Best WesternWednesday: Pick up time from NCAR: 6:15PM – Drop off at the Best WesternThursday:Pick up time from NCAR 1:30PM – Drop off at the Best WesternPick up time from NCAR 5:15PM (for SSG members and staff only) – Drop off at the Best Western

If you need to get to the NCAR Mesa lab at other times or miss the shuttle, a taxi (~7 $) or a 45 min steep uphill hike from the closest bus stop on Table Mesa Drive is the only way to the NCAR Mesa Lab.

Getting back to the hotel after dinnerTo get back to the hotel, we suggest that you share cabs for ~$10 ((303) 777–7777) or take a bus. On Monday you can take a bus up Broadway to Baseline (Skip, Dash, 225, 204) and then walk ~10 minutes. On Tuesday you can take the Dash or Skip down Broadway to Baseline and then walk ~10 minutes. Cash fare is $2.25 (exact change only). You should not take the AB or BV/BX buses, as they are regional buses with a higher fare that do not serve in–town passengers.

Prominently located directly across from the University of Colorado, the BEST WESTERN PLUS Boulder Inn gives guests easy access to NCAR, NOAA, NIST, the new 29th Street Mall, fabulous dining, entertainment and culture. Stylish, well-appointed rooms reflect a gracious ambiance, found throughout the hotel. If you stay at this hotel for the CliC SSG, you have access to a free shuttle to the meeting venue daily.